The last two major companies holding out against Japan’s plans to consolidate its bloated refinery sector are finally giving in. After almost three years of wrangling driven by Idemitsu Kosan Co’s founding family, the company will merge with Showa Shell Sekiyu KK after shareholders — including those founders, who opposed the initial version of the deal — signed off. The ...

A shoe just dropped for Masayoshi Son. Shares of Yahoo Japan Corp rose as much as 13 percent on Tuesday after SoftBank Group Corp said it will buy $2 billion worth of stock in the internet portal, or an 11 percent stake, from Altaba Inc. Investors were elated because the block sale eased concerns over a messy open-market sale that ...

Rising global trade tensions are morphing into a conflict fought with currency devaluations that historically have proven even more important than tariffs in influencing economic growth and financial markets. If this trend continues, the ultimate impact will likely be negative for asset valuations. This shift, which is aimed at gaining export competitiveness, is important for investors partly because it will ...

Theresa May’s plan for Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union comes at least 18 months too late. With only a few months of real negotiating time before the UK leaves, it has triggered the worst political turmoil yet faced by May, calling into question her future as prime minister. On top of all that, it’s a plan that the ...

Elon Musk is heading to the world’s biggest market for electric cars. Again. This time around, the Tesla Inc. CEO doesn’t have much choice. Musk’s visit to Shanghai , following Tesla’s move to register a wholly owned subsidiary in China, could provide the solution to the problems the carmaker is combating at its factories, in financial markets and with its ...

It’s abundantly clear that Americans as a whole are experiencing the best economy since the Great Recession. US employers are adding so many workers that more people are growing encouraged to enter the labour force. Wage growth is well above the average of the past decade. Corporate earnings remain rock solid. For bond investors, though, the question is never really ...

Bloomberg Mario Draghi said the improvement in euro-area inflation is on a self-sustained path as he struck a confident tone that the European Central Bank (ECB) can withdraw its stimulus despite the rising specter of a global trade war. Addressing European Parliament lawmakers, the ECB president urged the region’s governments to lead by example by pushing back against creeping protectionism, ...

Bloomberg Denmark’s financial watchdog is telling smaller lenders to brace for an assault by money launderers as big banks respond to intense regulatory scrutiny and improve their defenses. The head of the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) in Copenhagen, Jesper Berg, says smaller institutions are now particularly vulnerable. The comments come amid a string of revelations alleging that Danske Bank A/S was ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s new central bank governor presides over her first interest-rate meeting in a better position than most of her peers in Southeast Asia. Unlike her counterparts in Indonesia and the Philippines — who are ramping up rate hikes to defend their currencies — Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus doesn’t have to do anything for now. Even in Thailand, where rates ...

Bloomberg Two Wall Street strategists are casting doubt on one of this year’s most-popular trades: buy small-cap stocks. Don’t be fooled by the consensus that smaller companies are better positioned to weather a global trade war, Barclays’ Maneesh Deshpande said. While it’s true that their domestic focus makes them less vulnerable to trade barriers, their bigger reliance on imports means ...